Shirt collars



Feb. 4,v 1958 J. H. sALTER. JR

SHIRT COLLARS FledNov. 21, i955 FlamT FIG.3.

.l INVENTR. Judson H. So|ter',Jr.

I36 BY.

United States Patent SHIRT COLLARS Judson H. Salter, Jr., Opelika, Ala.

Application November 21, 1955, Serial No. 547,934

1 Claim. (Cl. 2--116) This invention relates generally to the class of wearing apparel and is directed particularly to new and novel improvements in shirt collars, more particularly the collars for mens shirts.

Mens dress shirts and also sport shirts are designed with collars of various type, particularly the wing portions thereof, and certain collars are constructed in a manner to hold the points or wings in a flat position against the front or bosom of the shirt. Such means commonly comprises the provision of buttonholes in each of the wings with buttons secured to the shirt front so that the wing tips or points can be fastened down. Thus, even when the shirt is worn by a stout person who normally would have diiculty in keeping the collar looking neat, the collar has the points thereof held down or fixed and the neatness thereof is maintained over a longer period than would normally be the case if such hold-down means were not provided.

In the light of the foregoing, a principal object of the present invention is to provide a collar construction for shirts, more particularly mens shirts, wherein the free ends, points or wings of the collar are secured in a novel manner to maintain them in a flat condition against the front of the shirt.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a shirt collar construction a novel means whereby the points or wings of the collar can be joined together beneath a necktie and thus held in attened down position.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a shirt collar construction wherein the tips, points or wings of the collar are detachably coupled together and the edges of the wings above the connection are formed so as to provide an opening in which the knot of a necktie, such as a four-in-hand tie, may lie and extend outwardly to overlie the connected points of the collar.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a i new and novel collar construction for shirts, such as mens dress shirts and the like, wherein the points or wings are designed to be brought together beneath a four-in-hand tie and a removable coupling means is provided to lie beneath the points or wings and to be detachably connected thereto so that when the shirt is to be laundered, such connecting means can be completely removed and the collar washed or laundered in the usual manner.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part of the specification with the understanding, however, that the invention may be changed or modified so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claim.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the collar and adjacent portions of a mans folded shirt showing the present inven tion in association with a four-in-hand necktie;

Fig. 2 is a View showing the necktie and the points of lil the collar turned up to disclose the resilient attaching band on the underside of and between the points;

Fig. 3 is a front view of the collar showing the forma tion of the adjacent edges of the wings and with the connecting means removed;

Fig. 4 is a plan View of the resilient connecting means for the collar points.

referring now more particularly to the drawings, the numeral l@ generally designates a shirt which may be a mans dress shirt, a sport shirt or a ladys shirt. In this view, the shirt is shown in folded condition, the upper part only being illustrated.

The numerals 12 and 14 designate respectively the right and left sides of the shirt bosom while the numeral 16 designates the conventional buttonhole band, at the upper end of which is shown the conventional terminal tab portion 18 of the hereinafter referred to collar lining or neckband and which tab portion has therein the buttonhole 2d to receive the button 2l which is attached to the adjacent other end of the collar lining or band.

The numeral 22 generally designates the collar con stru-ated in accordance with the present invention and which has the conventional inner lining or neckband 23 and the outer part 24, the inner part being stitched as at 25 in the usual manner to the shirt body.

ln accordance with the present invention, the outer part 24 of the collar is formed at the front to have the usual wings of somewhat greater length than in standard type of collars, these wings or wing portions being designated 26.

ln standard collars, the ends or wings of the outer part 24 of the collar are formed with an edge which extends across the full width of the collar so that the edges of the wings normally extend downwardly in divergent relation. In the present invention, however, the lower halves of the wings are extended to form tongues 27, each of which has a straight terminal edge 28, and these terminal edges are brought together when the collar is in use to lie substantially on the center line of the buttonhole band as best shown in Fig. 3. The upper halves of the wings have the straight, outwardly diverging edges 29, and these edges at their ends join with the top edges 30 of the tongues. rl`hese edges 3i) of the tongues, when the edges 23 are in abutting relationship, extend upwardly in outwardly diverging relation and thus, when the tongue portions of the wings are brought together, there is provided a substantially rectangular opening 31 for the purpose hereinafter described.

In the illustration of the invention, particularly as shown in Fig. 3, the ydownwardly divergent edges 29 and the upwardly divergent edges 30 are shown as being approximately the same length but it is to be understood that the invention is not restricted to the proportions here shown but may be changed or modified as may be found desirable.

Also in Fig. 3, the bottom edges 32 of the tongue portions of the wings are shown as curved or rounded so that when the tongue portions are joined as illustrated, the edges form a full arcuate edge for the front of the collar. Here also, it is to be understood that this illustrated construction is not to be taken as limiting the invention as it will be obvious that the lower edges of the tongues may be brought down to a point instead of being rounded as shown.

Each of the tongue portions 30 is provided with a buttonhole 33. rl'hese buttonholes have their lengths substantially parallel with the edges 30 and are disposed approximately midway between the end edges 28 of the tongues and the projection or extension of the edges 29.

The numeral 34 generally designates a connector by which the tongues 27 are coupled together. This com nestor comprises a short strip of elastic material 35 and secured on one side of the strip at each end thereof is a button 36 of a size to pass through a buttonhole 33, The distance between the buttons 36 may be slightly less than the distance between the bnttonholes 33 when the end edges 28 of the tongues are brought together so that when the connector 34 is disposed across the abutting end edges 28 ofthe tongues, upon the underside thereof as shown in Fig. 2 with the buttons in the buttonholes 33, the end ledges of the tongues will be held together.

As will be seen upon referring to Figs. '1 and 2, when the collar 22 is worn with a four-inhand necktie which is generally designated 37, the knot 38 will lie in the opening 31 and the tongues will be brought together Vacrossl the underside of the knot. The connector 311 is then joined to the tongues or it may have one end previously attached kto one tongue and after the knot is formed, the other end of the connector is attached to the other tongue in the obvious manner. Thus the tongues 'forming extensions of the wing portions of the collar will be held in flat condition Vin a comm-on plane against the front of the buttonhole `band 16 beneath the necktie and the front lof .the collar will maintain a neat and attractive appearance.

For laundering, obviously the connector 34 would be completely removed and thus the `laundering operation would not endanger the buttons of the connector and would not interfere with the ironing of the wings and tongues of the collar in ilat condition.

While the invention as illustrated shows the opening 31 as being rectangular or substantially square in outline and the description as hereinbefore given states that the opening is rectangular, it is, nevertheless, to be understood that the invention is not to be taken as limited `to this specific opening formation as it will be readily obvious that the edges 29 and 30 may be curved or made to run together so as to form an oval or elliptical opening or the bottom edges 30 may be extended straight across to form lthe opening of triangular shape or such edges 4 might be altered in an obvious manner to give a hexagonal for-m -to the opening.

I claim:

A shirt collar comprising joined inner and outer neck encircling parts, the outer part having an upper folded edge, a lower edge and a pair of oppositely disposed end edges, the portions of the outer part adjacent to the end edges forming wings, said oppositely disposed end edges being parallel from said lower edge through a substantial portion of the length of vthe -end edges and being substantially in abutting relation when the collar vis worn, the remaining portions of said end edges above said parallel portions having opposing complementary recesses therein forming an opening for receiving a tie knot when the collar is worn, the portions of the wings bordered by the lower portions of the recesses, the parallel edges and the lower edges of said outer parts defining tongues, each of said tongues having a button hole therein, and means for coupling together and holding said tongues in joined edge to edge relation when the collar is worn, said means comprising an elastic tape positioned behind said tongues across and having a width less than the length of said parallel edges and buttons on the tape adjacent to the ends thereof for lengagement vthrough said button holes, said button holes being so positioned between the said lower portions of the recesses and lower yedges of said outer parts and so spaced transversely of ysaid parallel edges that the holding tape will be fully hidden behind the tongues and the buttons will be exposed to view on opposite sides of a tie fknot in said opening.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 45,611 Almaker Apr. 21, 1914 1,193,048 Okamllro Aug. 1, 1916 1,757,861 Halperin May 6, 1930 1,792,369 Goldberg Feb. 10, 1931 2,688,137 Costa Sept. 7, 1954 

